Research Catalog

Title

Terra cognita : the mental discovery of America / Eviatar Zerubavel ; with a new preface by the author.

Author

Zerubavel, Eviatar.

Publication

New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Publishers, c2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xx, 164 p. : maps; 23 cm.

Summary

"In Terra Cognita, Eviatar Zerubavel argues that physical encounters are only one part of the complex, multifaceted process of discovery. Such encounters must be complemented by an understanding of the true identity of what is being discovered. The small group of islands claimed by Columbus to have been discovered off the shores of Asia was a far cry from what we now call America. The discovery of the New World was not achieved in a single day but was a slow process - mental as well as physical - that lasted almost three hundred years. By celebrating 1492 as a year of discovery, we inevitably distort the reality of history."--Jacket.

Subject

• Geography > History
• Geography > Psychological aspects
• America > Discovery and exploration
• America > Psychological aspects

Genre/Form

History

Note

• Originally published: New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c1992.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [145]-153) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Did Columbus Discover America? -- Pre-Columbian Discoveries of America -- What Is America? -- What Is a Discovery? -- The Mental Discovery of America -- A Single Geographical Entity -- A Separate Entity -- The Psychology of Discovering America -- Innovation -- Denial -- Ambivalence.

ISBN

0765809877 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2002027187

OCLC

50164730

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library